Virtual reality technology has been around since the late 60’s, but has only really found early commercial footing in the late 90’s. Everything changed around 2016 and 2017 when the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were released, as both made virtual reality technology much more accessible to the public. 2019 was the cusp of a new age, as Disney made a new television show on their streaming platform DISNEY+. The Mandalorian was a smash hit, helping push the Star Wars franchise. What made it special is that every background used massive LED screens that connected to Unreal 4, a gaming and programming engine that designed virtual backgrounds.
When the new version of the program, Unreal Engine 5 was first open to the public, a group of directors were hired to play with this new technology; these were the early adopters of the new age. They were able to play with the technology and realized its game-changing (no pun intended) ability. It is spreading rapidly throughout the film community because many directors realize it saves time in post-production and saves money in how they can compress work schedules. Late adopters might be avoiding the expensive initial cost to get the LED screen set, which is the main downside. The few people who never join might be either too stuck in older traditional ways or just a smaller company that cannot afford the upgrade. The upside definitely outweighs the negative, as after the initial cost is played back fast in the amount of money saved during the later production.
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